The world’s food system has so far weathered the challenge of covid-19
But things could still go awry
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IN LATE JANUARY China banned package tours from heading overseas for the lunar new-year holiday. This gave cold sweats to David Parker, New Zealand’s trade minister. Fewer tourists were a disappointment, but planes that did not bring tourists in one direction would not take agricultural produce back in the other—significantly more worrying, given that China is New Zealand’s biggest customer for the food which is its biggest export.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline "The tables not yet turned"
From the May 9th 2020 edition
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